Friday, September 16, 2011

Closers need these songs more than anyone. Pitching just one inning to end the game, they rely on elements of intimidation that workhorse starters can’t sustain over six or seven innings. Closers are performers in the full sense of the word, and their entrance music is nearly as much a part of their personas as a filthy slider or 97-mph fastball. Yet few understand what makes a good entrance song. They have much to learn. Most of which, incidentally, can be found in the following guide.

Reader Comments and Retorts

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

Built to Spill's "Stop the Show". Not only is called "Stop the Show", but it has a 2:30 stretch that practically could've been made to be closer music. Start the track at 2:44, and you get a great build up to a door opening at 3:14, and then a great variety of badass tones for warming up until 4:50, when it goes into a kind of dreamy riff complete with the lyrics "After a while, you know their style, and that's enough to know they suck/And when you know they'll stop the show because they know you know". Maybe straddling the border between intimidating and just downright cocky but god damn. What a great closer song.

My coed softball team did this a couple years back. I walked to the plate to Prince of the Rodeo by Turbonegro. One of the girls on the team used One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston. It was quite an eclectic mix.

I prefer the discussions of what would be the worst entrance song. Someone's suggestion of "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" a few years ago is still my favorite. Second favorite is either this or "Pure Imagination" from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The son of the guy the Edmund Fitzgerald ship was named after, also named Edmund Fitzgerald, was Bud's partner in bringing the Pilots to Milwaukee as the Brewers.
Actually, my understanding is that Edmund Fitzgerald was the name of the son of the guy who built the boat (i.e., the boat's builder named it after his son). I assume the father was Bud's partner. Which is very cool, as I did not know that.

A fact about the younger Edmund Fitzgerald: he was CEO of Nortel for a number of years. In addition, I took a course on globalization that he taught a few years ago.

I like the point the author makes about building a brand. Papelbon's "Shipping up to Boston" works, but only in Fenway. He couldn't use it if he pitched anywhere else. It's not really Papelbon's song, it's Papelbon's Red Sox song.

On the other hand, I think the "brand" thing cuts against his point about Rivera. While Rivera (or the Yankee Stadium sound people) did rip off Wagner and Houston, that song is much more associated now with Rivera than with Wagner. He appropriated it, and it's now his song.

Chris has a nice list, I guess, but Tim Worrell used Iron Man, so his #1 song had already been used by a closer.

Nobody has used Ace of Spades yet, which I find really surprising. I guess the gambling bit and "win some, lose some/it's all the same to me" probably doesn't instill the right kind of message, but the music is money.

No Brian Wilson/Beach Boys (Don't Worry Baby) jokes anymore? I think SF would love "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads, and it has a long slow intro made for walking from the bullpen. If Al Hrabosky had entrance music that might have been a good match.
In StL Rolen could have used Proud Mary ("Rollin' on the river")